New doctor

I cannot count how many times I've taken this exact same photo, but usually the wall is painted a cool pastel.

Met my new primary care physician today. I've been without one for years it seems.

I stopped going to the last one, even though he was super holistic.

He was also an ass with political rags in the waiting room that I felt were simply not appropriate. And when I say "simply not appropriate," I say it like Travis and Jonathan in their Grizzy Bear Man / Herzog short at about 05:08 (but you really should watch all 8 minutes if you haven't and you've seen the movie they parody)

I should mention, I didn't stop going because of his political affiliation. He can use his waiting room fodder as his personal blog slash soap box all he wants. It was more the ass part of his personality that got to me.

The new doctor is much nicer and made my blood pressure lower in minutes. I have before and after figures to prove it.

Current music: Gruff Rhys "Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru"

by candlelight

Candles (L), their shadows on the ceiling (R)

I wouldn't say the winds were howling, but they were making instruments of the trees and buildings last night.

Right before bed, all the electrical things dimmed, repeatedly—then went out, decidedly.

We lit all the candles set around the place, and located a bag of tealights to extend the warm glow.

And all of a sudden it was not now, but another time.

For some reason I think of a mall on Sunday. Back when they were closed and we were forced to spend time with each other.

But that's a bad example.

Maybe it was more like pioneering days.

My imagination is limited at this hour. I keep seeing Laura and Mary Ingalls braiding each other's hair.

Anyway, the lights came back on too soon.

Current music: Cat Power "Don’t Explain"

I like these hubcaps

Hamilton, OH police

There Will Be Blood, Once

A scene from Once

Dag, how can I put all this down brief-like so I can feel like I captured the gist without taking away too much time from actually living (and sleeping)?

If you consider watching movies "living"—which I do, because movies are the only real thing I do outside of work and love that keeps me tethered to the world as I know it. Aside from music, eating food, and laundry.

I'd throw sleeping in there but I'm not sure that keeps me tethered to the world.

Recent viewings in front of screens:

There Will Be Blood - Saw it projected on Saturday by myself because my other half prefers brighter cinematic entertainment (and I can't blame him). This flick was one helluva character study. It's dark and rattles the stomach. I didn't enjoy it, but I was moved and it made me think. I'd probably go back for seconds after some time has passed. Kind of like White Castles.

Once - Home rental helped me score the shot from the TV (above). I wanted to record something to memory to remind myself of the movie. It surprised me like Murderball, and something else I can't remember but truly enjoyed. Mind you it had a little shaky camera like Cloverfield, but there was respite.

Speaking of that Cloverfield, you might have seen or read about the characters videotaping or using their cell-phone cameras in times of duress, and this is a reflection of society today. I say it would have been extra ironic and fun if someone had said, hold on, let me stabilize the camera and frame this shot nicely. I'll stop complaining about the lack of tripod now, forever.

Back to Once, I'd bought the soundtrack a while ago knowing that Glen Hansard of The Frames was involved. I still have a glow from his 2004 tour.

The soundtrack totally makes sense now and I am smitten with everything about this flick. I've heard reviews call it a new musical or refinement of music video, and maybe it is. I don't care, it's extremely genuine and made me feel all warm and stuff.

Also on the small screen, I've been watching Project Runway, but I can't add any more flavor than Dave White's weekly updates on The Advocate. Here's last weeks. His words make me laugh, and I got to ffffind this picture and remind myself that sometimes the show can be a hoot.

Current music: Coconut Records "West Coast"

3 from the phone

A book cover I like, plate of food from Golden Corral, clouds

Cleared off the images piling up on the phone.

These three were the best of the bunch.

Done cut up

I'm putting the scissors and x-acto down now

Check out the Layer Tennis finale, two simultaneous matches:

MATCH A - AND - MATCH B

Wearing my lucky shirt

It's already been broughten. FTW

Like McCain on the night of New Hampshire primaries, I too have a lucky shirt. This is the one I wore while running around the farm-slash-studio on my last Layer Tennis match—and it's the shirt I'm going to be wearing this afternoon for the playoffs. Two simultaneous matches are going down at 3pm EST (extra points if we cross pollenate layers.) Previews of each match are online:

MATCH A
Gruber will be providing commentary between me and Inman.

MATCH B
Rosecrans will be spouting off between Koxvold and Hutchinson.

So back to the shirt... It's mesmerizing isn't it? McCain would be jealous. You can get 'em over at Wuvable Oaf and they're available in 'bait or 'oaf sizes.

It's not pimping when you love it.

I'm off to warm up.

Current music: Ghostface Killah "We Celebrate"

I wanted a perfect ending.

I keep coming back to this quote, and I wanted to remember it more, so I'm posting it here.

A hat tip to Richard for sharing the words.

developed

fed the meter

I went to the camera shop too soon. The prints weren't ready this morning. That meant I would have to wait all day until after work to pick them up.

When I finally did get them, I went right to the car and tore into the envelopes.

I had been fearing ever since drop-off that things would go sour. There would be some light leak. My exposures would be off. This Canon AE-1 hadn't been used since the 90's, when I took that photography course in college and did angsty things like take photos of my head in a box (warning, no beard).

To my surprise, every single shot came out exposed properly. Not everything was in focus, but I'm blaming my glasses and shallow depth of field. I'm not sure where film fits into things, but it was great to get invigorated and try and find ways to finish out a roll.

What I ended up with is a good representation of my day-to-day life in the winter months: Dan, Tom and Wendy, some food, my car, work stuff, and a little bit of this and that.

The Canon AE-1 set

Current music: Brian Eno "Boards of Canada and Marumari"

waiting for developing

an odd crop to remove the subject matter

A few more minutes and my film should be processed at the photo lab.

Film?

Ayup. I got my dad's old Canon AE-1 fired up this weekend and man was it buttery. Small footprint. Sweet focus and metering. And the sound of the shutter was tight and quick.

A couple habits kept me from being completely natural with it:

- I kept forgetting to advance the film.
- After a few snapshots I'd look at the back of the camera hoping to see a preview.
- This waiting for developing is nerve-wracking.

Current music: Liam Finn "Better to Be"

justifying Nutella

for breakfast

Ingredients easily pronounced.

Adds European flair to start of day.

Tastes good on a bagel.

Adding sliced strawberries makes it seem healthy.

Current music: Grandaddy "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot"

Camouflage cat

Again, if I could write LOLcat captions, this would come in handy

Unrelated to kitty: that movie yesterday, Cloverfield?

The only thing it needed was a strong anchor character with acting chops, like those of say, Andie MacDowell.

And a tripod.

Current music: The Worst Pies In London

head cleaning

If only everything had a button to diagnose and fix problems, like a printer

I was forwarded an email that spoke quite ill of Barack Obama. One word in particular came to mind when reading it: persecution.

Now it's early in the whole presidential race and I'll wait until things settle before sounding off proper, but I wanted to note this particular bunk. If I had received something about Romney or Huckabee, I would also take it with a grain of salt and seek answers to the best of my ability.

In this scathing email it is written: "We checked this (he's a flag-hating muslim who refuses to say the pledge of allegiance) out on snopes.com. It is factual. Check for yourself."

Not that Snopes is some great trusted source, but I heard mention of this at the last debate. So I went ahead to check and here's what they had to say:

The e-mail in circulation claims "We were told this was checked out on 'snopes.com'. It is factual. Check for yourself." and includes a link to this web site. It's our guess that whoever included that bit was counting on folks to not check, as our article says the opposite.

Here's the link. Mind you, their site has pop-ups and questionable practices in content presentation, but they seem to answer the questions with adequate citation for my comfort.

Just thought I'd share. I figure we'll all be getting our inboxes flooded with this stuff.

trinity

Staging a house

I know that if you bring along a camera to a showing for a house, you're supposed to make photos that capture the rooms or the entire space, not the decor.

Current music: John Zorn "Three"

more knobs

I have no idea what this device does. A mystery and reminder that there's still lots to learn.

Ever since that classic computer, I've been thinking knobs and buttons and dials and cords. I collected a few and took some new ones and started putting them in this set:

knobs & buttons & dials & cords

In other news, it's Friday, and I've lots of pixels to push before the work whistle blows. Next week, there will be lots of ink to be pushed through screens on to shirts and tags.

This weekend: I think I'll be seeing whatever movie the Cincinnati Movie Bears see tomorrow. Here's a link to the Yahoo Group, oh, and the movie is Cloverfield.

Current music: Les Savy Fav "Pots & Pans"

Come again?

An egg on toothpicks stretches

There's talk of bringing pairs of contenders together for the last two Layer Tennis matches. My heart pounds a little harder at the notion.

Something I never shared from the first match is an interview I did with commentator Rosecrans Baldwin.

He asked a slew of questions to get to know each player.
I put all my answers online, where I talk about my inspiration, beard, personal flaws, and equipment.

Current music: Kelley Deal & Sebastian Bach "T.N.T."

A pair of faeries

perhaps wander in plainclothes

Current music: Apes & Androids "Imaginary Friends"

mental note: measuring pixels

The single pixels that created Mario really have nothing to do with this quick thought as I cram on work

Original mental note:
Design everything in multiples of 5.
Never make another image that is 176x32 or any other weird set of numbers.
Stop being sloppy.
Keep math easy.

---

Revised version:
Just do.
Even if it means being odd now and then.

---

I figure the latter is akin to Elisa on Project Runway using spit to measure fabric. It didn't really work out for her on the show, but I always gave her tree-hugging sensibilities props.

[ Image from Sprite Stich: A video game inspired cross stitch weblog ]

Core Memory

Digital Equipment Corporation PDP8/F

Can't stop looking at images from Mark Richards’ Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers.

I'm trying to be more budget-conscious this year, but I feel compelled to purchase this book—much like I would feel compelled to flip every single one of those switches. Take that touchscreens.

And that color palette rocks. It was a good era. See the 150-in-one electronic kit.

An inspiring way to start the Monday, with a hat tip to Coudal for pointing it out. (Related props: Have you seen the archived coin flips for Layer Tennis?)

Current music: Mapstation "Watching Paik's Video Buddha"

House Hunt I.

Gem City furnace, a huge octopus in the basement of house number

Eight houses.

We looked at eight houses today.

Seven of them were awful. In ways that cannot be repaired easily or cheaply. Some taste cannot be covered with a coat of paint.

I'm still not understanding construction from the past three decades. What is wrong with trees? Or a little space between houses? All the new stuff seems so hollow. It's bizarre, and over-priced. Give me wooden doors.

One house however, was dreamy—but out of the comfort zone price-wise (thanks to my craptacular inability to contribute meaningfully to the mortgage in the eyes of the bank.)

No matter, it was a learning experience just looking. I now realize that location may not be everything, but it's a heckuva lot. A 10x11 master bedroom is too small. New concrete around the edge of a basement means they've done something to prevent leaks. Traffic matters. Taxes are complex. There are really ugly countertops still being manufactured. Beige gets old.

Current music: Morrissey "Life Is A Pigsty"

Ever heard of a store called Spencers?

A sculpture in The Cricket Lounge

We had our holiday dinner for the studio last night. Well worth the wait, every last bite was delicious.

Decided to have a night cap afterward at The Cincinnatian Hotel— a well appointed place downtown that looks like a boring office building at street level.

They had some neon sculpture in the bar area. I was enamored (and sober) and taking pictures. My cohort at work asked if I had ever heard of a store called Spencers. Since he was slurring from the rare stiff drink or he fact he avoids sleep by having a teething child, I let his joke slide. I still liked the neon sculpture thing.

Oh, I should mention, I was wearing a tie. Here is proof in the alternate pictures that almost made it for this entry.

I thought the neon was neater.

Current music: Amiina "Glámur"

A dozen days into 08

Photos I intended to post separately

The year is off and running (fast) and I still feel like 2007 did not receive proper reflection. I'm determined to cobble together a gallery of favorite photos from last year, but for now, moving forward takes precedence.

I've been trying to make more photos with people of late. It's still a mixed bag of candid and posed.

Zoom in on any of 'em here:

Recent photos on Flickr.

And now, I'm off to a holiday dinner for the studio. Better late than not at all.

Current music: José González "Remain"

Wicked

The dragon above the stage. Aronoff Center. Cincinnati, OH

Saw Wicked (again) last night. This time the seats were immensely better than the first time around. (Those box seat balcony things on the side of the theatre look really awesome, but the views are crap.)

The view on the ground exposed much of the set and lighting I'd not seen before. It was like an entirely different show.

My mom came along and said the show was like being 10 years old and seeing a fairy-tale come to life in a whole new way. I remember those goosebumps. And after playing the heck out of the soundtrack over the past year or so, those goosebumps are still there.

Previously I wrote "I like this show a lot.... for taking an old familiar story and twisting it deliciously into something with greater meaning." I'm not sure if the meaning is greater, but I always appreciate when my notions are expanded by another perspective.

Current music: Original Broadway Cast "For Good"

lapping it up

The ex-stray that might just stick around the farm

Words will be sparse over the next few days.

Email replies, slow.

I'll try and keep up with the photos.

Current music: Uncle Tupelo "I Wanna Be Your Dog"

Final Countdown

Final Countdown from glass on Vimeo

Seeing if this works proper. Testing. 1 2 3.

At the Showcase Cinema

Popcorn camouflage

Been lacking on the movie-going of late. Usually I squeeze in a good handful over the holidays, but either the calendar is fuller or options at the cineplex are less enticing.

Movie 1

I did catch Juno with my ma on the day when everything but the cinema is closed. Liked it so much I watched it again with friends visiting from California. Laughed out loud at the same point in each showing (Sonic Youth was involved.) I do feel a little dirty that a big movie studio tried to make it seem super-indie, but often times, I like to feel manipulated.

Movie 2

Just caught Sweeney Todd this past week.

After seeing Patti Lupone in the recent rework of the musical (picture from the trip to NYC), I was reticent to see this movie. Decided to go because I am enamored with Tim Burton's take on things in general.

Gritty pretty. Kept me rapt. And now I can't stop humming those songs.

Current music: Sun Kil Moon "Space Travel Is Boring"

Apple Timeline

Mental note: Must. Stop. Eating. Crapfood.

I was trying to figure out when Job's keynote goes down when I saw the horrible t-shirts linked up from the Macworld website.

It pains to look at the designs available, much like it is painful to see how much my torso would benefit from a modernized man-girdle.

Anyway, all this is totally unlike my new favorite shirt from Insanely Great Tees called Apple Timeline. I had some variation of this in my head for some time, but this execution and design exceeds my imagination.

In self news: the first week of '08 had lots of darts lined up for the calendar. Didn't actually throw many on specific dates, but lined them up and felt the weight and girth. Oh, and the studio is beginning to sparkle. Next it week it will smell of Pine Sol.

Current music: The Breeders "Little Fury"

Creation Museum

Eve (L) Adam (R)

I met up with Brian ("BB" over at Coudal and lover of scooters) along with a group of folks to check out the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky.

Tucked away between exits for fireworks and gambling on a rural notch of highway that loops through Cincinnati, Indiana and Kentucky—it costs adults 20 bucks a head to get inside the 60,000 square foot structure.

The museum's angle is all about the origins of life, the book of Genesis, and dinosaurs.

Lots of dinosaurs.

24 photos from the day, some of dinosaurs

Continue reading for my thoughts on the museum.

Dinosaurs line the entrance from the parking lot to the ticketing area. Plaster casts of their bones and complete jerky animatronic ones live inside. And yes, there's even a dinosaur with a saddle you can ride for photo opps (here's me!) right before you hit the gift store (stuffed with more plush dinosaurs.)

My beef isn't with the dinos though. It's not with a message that disagrees with scientists, or slights being gay.

The greatest offense of this museum is that it is boring.

For a while there I thought it might be scary for kids, but I looked at their faces. They weren't scared—they were bored too.

I should mention, I am tainted, having been lucky to visit some incredible museums.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial — powerful in storytelling and illuminating lives lost. I could revisit this journal entry from my trip in 2003, but I don't need to... I remember every step.

I'll even say the opening for the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati left an impression I can't shake—a feeling that art is wildly diverse and unexpected. There was this room with a circle of speakers—each with a different voice singing. You stood in the middle and heard a whole choir.

There was a passageway with a blast of air from a large fan.

Art took new life. It was suddenly everywhere. Even in the wind. Amazing, really.

But the Creation Museum was not this. It was stale: Follow the path and read the backlit paragraphs describing the diorama before you. Hope for something animated. Pine for a water fountain around the corner.

I went in with an open mind, and left with it.

Everything I needed to know was outside.

clink

midnight toast, camera not lost